The Bahamas is considering setting up a port authority in a bid to shift responsibility for the country's harbours away from direct government control.
Reports say plans to create the new authority have been encouraged by the success of the semi-autonomous Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) which runs the world's third largest ship register.
The government intends to set up a similar body to manage and run Bahamas ports.
“We think it would improve efficiency,” explained Minister of Maritime Affairs and Labour for the Bahamas Dion Foulkes.
“The BMA works very well and we want to bring the same level of professionalism to the ports sector,” he told Lloyd's List.
Ports under jurisdiction from the Bahamas include the cruise hub Nassau, Hutchison's large transshipment centre Freeport and some 20 smaller docks across the archipelago handling inter-island traffic.
Both Freeport and Nassau are currently undergoing expansion to meet growing demand.
Go-ahead for a $250 million expansion had been recently given to Freeport Container Port which is being run by Hutchison for the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).
MSC also owns a stake in the facility which is due to have its capacity increased from 1.5 million TEUs to 2.4 million TEUs by 2009.
Plans at Nassau also call for enlargement of the turning basin enlargement to accommodate the world's largest cruise ships.
One idea still being considered by the newly-elected government is to move all cargo handling from Nassau to another part of the island.
Reports say plans to create the new authority have been encouraged by the success of the semi-autonomous Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) which runs the world's third largest ship register.
The government intends to set up a similar body to manage and run Bahamas ports.
“We think it would improve efficiency,” explained Minister of Maritime Affairs and Labour for the Bahamas Dion Foulkes.
“The BMA works very well and we want to bring the same level of professionalism to the ports sector,” he told Lloyd's List.
Ports under jurisdiction from the Bahamas include the cruise hub Nassau, Hutchison's large transshipment centre Freeport and some 20 smaller docks across the archipelago handling inter-island traffic.
Both Freeport and Nassau are currently undergoing expansion to meet growing demand.
Go-ahead for a $250 million expansion had been recently given to Freeport Container Port which is being run by Hutchison for the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).
MSC also owns a stake in the facility which is due to have its capacity increased from 1.5 million TEUs to 2.4 million TEUs by 2009.
Plans at Nassau also call for enlargement of the turning basin enlargement to accommodate the world's largest cruise ships.
One idea still being considered by the newly-elected government is to move all cargo handling from Nassau to another part of the island.